Search

CHOP/BGI Partnership Supports Brain Tumor Research

January 10, 2013 — The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and BGI-Shenzhen today announced a formal agreement to collaborate on research into next-generation sequencing and analysis of pediatric brain tumors, in support of the Childhood Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium (CBTTC). The research initiative will draw on the resources of the state-of-the-art Joint Genome Center BGI@CHOP. That center provides next-generation sequencing (NGS) under CAP/CLIA guidelines, which represent the gold standard of quality in clinical laboratory testing.

The CBTTC is a collaborative pediatric research group that brings together four institutions:

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (which houses the Operations Center)

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

Seattle Children’s Hospital

Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

The consortium is dedicated to the collection, annotation, and molecular analyses of children’s brain tumors. Next-generation sequencing of pediatric brain tumors offers a deep and comprehensive view into the genetic underpinnings of these often-devastating solid tumors. In collaboration with BGI’s genomics platforms, the new project will support the development of new and more effective forms of therapy targeted to each patient’s specific subtype of brain tumor.

Tom Curran, PhD, FRS, deputy scientific director of the CHOP Research Institute, commented, “These important efforts are made possible through the further extension of CHOP’s productive collaboration with BGI, a world-class institution in the global genome sequencing arena that is using its scientific expertise and technological know-how to improve medical research.”

“BGI is pleased to have deepened its relationship with The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a global leader in pediatric care and research,” said Jun Wang, PhD, executive director of BGI-Shenzhen. “We look forward to a productive partnership that will accelerate advances in the research and treatment of pediatric brain tumors.”

Supported by CHOP’s and BGI’s excellent infrastructure and extensive experience in NGS services, the BGI@CHOP Joint Genome Center was established in November 2011 under a partnership between both institutions to focus on discovery of genes underlying rare and common pediatric diseases.

About The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the first pediatric hospital in the United States. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children’s Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide and its pediatric research program is among the largest in the U.S.

In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 516-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. Support for the establishment of the CBTTC has been provided in part by the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation..

About BGI

BGI was founded in 1999 with the mission of being a premier scientific partner to the global research community. The goal of BGI is to make leading-edge genomic science highly accessible through its investment in infrastructure that leverages the best available technology, economies of scale, and expert bioinformatics resources. BGI, which includes both private nonprofit genomic research institutes and sequencing application commercial units, and its affiliates, BGI Americas, headquartered in Cambridge, MA, and BGI Europe, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, have established partnerships and collaborations with leading academic and government research institutions as well as global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, supporting a variety of disease, agricultural, environmental, and related applications.

BGI has established a proven track record of excellence, delivering results with high efficiency and accuracy for innovative, high-profile research which has generated more than 250 publications in top-tier journals such as Nature and Science. These accomplishments include:

Sequencing one percent of the human genome for the International Human Genome Project

Contributing 10 percent to the International Human HapMap Project

Carrying out research to combat SARS and the German deadly E. coli outbreak

Playing a key role in the Sino-British Chicken Genome Project

Completing the sequence of the rice genome, the silkworm genome, the first Asian diploid genome, the potato genome, the human Gut Metagenome, and a significant proportion of the genomes for the 1,000 Genomes Project